Paulie

It's so good to log on & see all your messages! I am over my postop "blue" phase. Being back at work is good and I feel much better now I can eat soft foods. I think I expected some kind of reward after the Optifast then the op. But what really happens is that one must not take anything that will not pass through a straw. Not able to exercise much as yet because I have arthritis in knees & hips (from being obese) & my back is a bit dodgy after 30+ years of nursing. Thank you Susannah,Bronnie, Blythe & She Smiles for your thoughts on exercising - I DO have some hand weights & a pedal machine so am getting started. None of the Aqua classes fit in for me this week but am so looking forward to getting back in the pool after so long. I always feel really FREE in the water! Re telling people about the op - I have been unable to keep quiet about it so people at work ask me about it, which I find encouraging. I also have no doubt that, in the longer term, this procedure is going to work for me. if I thought there was a chance of failure I may have been more circumspect. My family are 100% supportive except for poor old Mum who is worried I might explode if I eat too much. Some of my sisters are watching my progress & thinking of doing it themselves - we are all overweight. Hope you all have a pleasant Easter - I am working back to back shifts until Sat arvo then I have 3 days off - YEEHAR so look forward to chatting again in a few days.

Had my first post-op checkup yesterday & will not get any fill for another 4 weeks. Docs are happy & so am I as they told me I can start eating soft foods as long as I chew well. It really is a load off my shoulders - I was finding it SO HARD to stick to runny liquids and the side effects this caused in my gastrointestinal tract. I went back to work last week & it all went OK - sometimes my work is quite physical & I can get very tired but I have coped OK (except maybe for the evening when my sister rang at 7.30pm - I was roused from a deep slumber, picking up the phone reluctantly, thinking it was 3am & I was oncall!) Yep it was 7.30pm & I was so tired I was already in a coma. Told the docs about LBT & how helpful I am finding it. They will inform other patients about it as the Bowral Bariatric Centre is quite new & they are aiming for best-practice results. Have rung the local health club. It is a resort & has a waiting list to join the gym & I put my name down - I have only ever been in a gym a few times to attend aquarobics. Also got the times for Aqua which is different everyday so I should be able to fit it in with work at least a few times a week. I have a question - what is PB? I have a feeling it does not mean Personal Best........ Last but not least, have lost 13 kg since I went in for my first consult.It was about 6 months ago - had to have a hernia repaired before i could get banded. Love to all

Thank you all for the warm welcome. I feel really comfortable & already feeling much stronger as the result of your support. It has been great to find a community of Bandsters doing the same stuff I am doing & I will be logging on regularly. I go back to work today, which I am sort of dreading but I know I will be OK once I get there & settle back into the routine. And it will take my focus off my gut!:nervous And I can only eat what I take in with me, so if I make the right choices before I leave home (leave out the cheese & crackers) then I will be OK there.

Hello, I am not too far from Sydney at Bundanoon (I'm a tree-changer). Had my op 2 weeks ago at Bowral Bariatric Centre which is a relatively new set-up. I only joined a health fund when I started investigating Banding as an option last September. I am still in the waiting period but decided to go ahead ASAP with the op because of the health probs I have related to obesity.So I am paying for the whole shebang myself. I have been quoted around $12,000. So far I have forked out $5,000 for the hospital stay & $3,500 for follow-up for 2 years with physio & dietician. Just got the anaesthetist bill - $1,000 & yet to get the surgeons bill but I think I can claim part of both of these from Medicare. You can also claim medical expenses on your tax if they are above a certain amount - I think $1,500 but could be totally wrong.

Thank you Goannabanda for your welcome. Yes I am very impressed with LBT & feel very comfortable here. So happy to find some Aussies too.

Thanks for that reply Jenny. I am just "having one of those days" & your warmth & encouragement have spurred me on. I go back to work tomorrow after 2 weeks off & it's a bit scary. But I think it will help to be busy again. Will stick with the soup, yogurt & shakes.

Been thinking about a blog for a few weeks but could not find the right space. But this is good - private & a good record. I am 13 days postop. I am hungry but usually satisfied with a little food. I am most worried about NOT sticking to the fluid only (thin enough to pass thru a straw) rule. Have been having crackers, dip & cheese. Also my gut is very unhappy - hypermotile I am calling it. Like an orchestra tuning up. Setteled with Yakult then Inner Health caps then R4 (thanks Petrea) but I have to keep taking them.

Been thinking about a blog for a few weeks but could not find the right space. But this is good - private & a good record. I am 13 days postop. I am hungry but usually satisfied with a little food. I am most worried about NOT sticking to the fluid only (thin enough to pass thru a straw) rule. Have been having crackers, dip & cheese. Also my gut is very unhappy - hypermotile I am calling it. Like an orchestra tuning up. Setteled with Yakult then Inner Health caps then R4 (thanks Petrea) but I have to keep taking them.

At first I did not want to be part of any support group/chat room but have changed my mind. I DO need it! Joined earlier today & just saw your thread from Melbourne. So like a good Aussie, I had to say G'day. I am in the Southern Highlands, south west of Sydney. Had my op here with Dr Frank Stening officiating on 14th March- it's a new program in this area & the good doc & his team are using a lot of clinical expertise gleaned from the program in Melbourne.

I share your pain!! Am 13 days post-op. For the first week I had incessant gas and diarrhoea. Used 3 pkts of diarrhoea pills, got on the Yakult, Inner Life caps (25 billion good bacteria) & eventually a homeopathic remedy (R4) & it subsided. But I have to keep taking all this stuff or it comes back! Plus I can hardly bear to have any more shakes & am hungry:think. I have been having pureed soups, yogurts and some light solids like crackers & cheese or dip. I am so worried I will have moved or damaged my banding but I just can't do it anymore with the liquid diet. Plus if I am not careful, the liquid emerges rapidly from the other end with great fanfare & trumpeting, if you get my drift. My next appt with the good doc is in a week - I am hoping I will get my first fill (is that the term for getting saline into the balloon?) but maybe it will be just a checkup. Anyway, after I did reasonably well with the Optifast stint now I am disappointed in my compliance with the postop regime. I do chew everything very well & have plenty fluids if I have some crackers.

Hello Bansters! Got my Band on March 14th - Dr Stening at Southern Highlands Private Hospital in NSW Australia officiated. The shoulder/neck pain is referred pain. So you know how someone having a heart attack gets pain down their left arm. The arm is OK but the pain is referred from the chest. I am 13 days post-op & still get a twinge now & then but it is resolving